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Climate Action
News article23 September 2019Directorate-General for Climate Action

EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete and China’s Special Representative on Climate Change Xie Zhenhua: meeting in New York at the UN Climate

EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete and China’s Special Representative on Climate Change Xie Zhenhua welcomed the successful outcome of the UN Climate Action Summit and thanked UN Secretary-General António Guterres for..

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EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete and China’s Special Representative on Climate Change Xie Zhenhua welcomed the successful outcome of the UN Climate Action Summit and thanked UN Secretary-General António Guterres for his outstanding commitment to ambitious global climate action.

The Commissioner and Special Representative also took the occasion to review the implementation of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and domestic progress on climate change policies and actions as well as the 2018 EU-China Leaders’ Statement on Climate Change and Clean Energy.

The Commissioner stressed that the EU had adopted legislation for its 2030 climate and energy targets; he pointed out that, if fully implemented, total EU greenhouse gas emission reductions were estimated to reach around 45% in 2030. He also highlighted that a strategic, long-term vision for a climate neutral EU economy by 2050 had been published and was widely discussed. He hoped that this would be endorsed by European leaders shortly.

The Special Representative said that China has attached great importance to combating climate change. China has implemented a series of effective policies and measures and has made significant advances in addressing climate change. China’s carbon intensity declined by 45.8% in 2018 compared to 2005, already exceeding the 2020 target of reducing carbon intensity by 40%-45%. It laid a solid foundation for achieving the climate change targets of "13th Five-Year Plan” and China’s NDC. He also pointed out that China had launched national carbon emission trading system and been actively promoting its national carbon market construction. China has carried out South-South Cooperation on climate change with more than 30 developing countries, helping them enhance the capability to address climate change.

In the context of the 2018 EU-China Leaders’ Statement on Climate Change and Clean Energy both representatives showed their satisfaction as regards its implementation. They highlighted the joint efforts as regards long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies; emissions trading as well as energy, transport and other climate and clean energy projects. They also recalled the EU-China Summit Joint Statement of 9 April 2019 in which there was agreement on reinforcing cooperation on green finance in order to harness private capital flows towards a more environmentally sustainable economy.

Finally, both representatives underlined their strong commitment to implement the Paris Agreement and the Montreal Protocol. They called on all Parties to implement their NDCs and to strengthen efforts over time. They reconfirmed that the EU and China will communicate, by 2020, long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies as required by the Paris Agreement, and called on other Parties to do likewise.

Details

Publication date
23 September 2019
Author
Directorate-General for Climate Action